


like spilled ice cream (i might just melt)

by milkandaliens



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Drinking, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Light Angst, Luwoo, M/M, Mentions of other ships, Roommates, Slice of Life, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, had to tag jaeyong bcs it was too obvious, jaeyong if you squint, kun is a tsundere, kun thinks about death a lot, not too much tho, skarut, this is basically nct u ft. renjun, this is lowkey crack tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-24 02:02:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14945535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkandaliens/pseuds/milkandaliens
Summary: In which Yukhei and Jungwoo are too dumb to realize their feelings for each other and Kun suffers. A lot.Until Yukhei gets too drunk one night.





	like spilled ice cream (i might just melt)

“We’re not dating!”

That was what Yukhei and Jungwoo always told everyone. As if.

Sometimes, Kun regrets being born. He shares the dorm with them, only because he didn’t want to share it with any strangers from campus. He was there only for his studies. His parents didn’t worry much about him as he actually had family in Korea. His aunt and uncle lived 45 minutes away. They would probably stay in the country for several years more before moving to another one in the name of business.

He had known Yukhei since elementary school. Jungwoo was assigned to the dorm Kun stayed at and because the boy was polite, Kun decided that Jungwoo was tolerable.

Yukhei just moved in that year and the moment he saw Jungwoo, he started to hit on him. It also seemed like Jungwoo felt the same way judging from how he also hit on Yukhei. When Kun pointed this out, they denied strongly. Fucking dumbasses. Anyhow, it was safe to say the three were best friends.

But now, he questioned the ‘best friends’ part as he was plotting the murder of said best friends. He was just trying to live his life peacefully. He turned up the volume of the television, trying his best to focus on the morning news (he never kept up with the news but the news was better than what was happening in the kitchen).

“Hyung... you look handsome today,” Yukhei said while totally not looking into Jungwoo’s eyes with full of love. The compliment totally was not homo. They were totally not pushed up against the kitchen island, fingers laced together. Yukhei was totally not running his hand through the older boy’s hair. And that was totally not a habit.

“Me handsome?”

“Yes, you handsome.”

“Me handsome today only?” Jungwoo raised his voice a little, pretending to be offended.

“No. You handsome everyday. But with your bedhair, you look extra handsome.”

You see, if the kitchen were the type where there was a wall separating the place from the living room, Kun wouldn’t mind. Heck, those two boys could even make out in the kitchen for all he cared. The problem was that, the kitchen in their dorm was the open concept type, separating the place with the living room with only a kitchen island, causing Kun’s suffering.

Why was he born.

He shifted uncomfortably on the couch. Kun didn’t have any classes for the weekend but he longed to go somewhere, _anywhere_. God, he just wanted to escape this cringe fest.

He cleared his throat. “You know... the water in the kettle is gonna cool down if you keep eye-fucking each other all day.”

Yukhei and Jungwoo unattached their bodies from one another like two magnets of the same pole.

“Ge, it’s n-nothing like that! Are you out of your mind?!” Yukhei said in mandarin.

Jungwoo totally wasn’t as red as a tomato while making hot drinks for the three of them. Kun thought he looked like their friend Taeyong’s hair one time.

At night, he covers his ears with his earphones. Just in case. Yukhei prefers to sleep in Jungwoo’s room instead of his own room for some reason. Kun didn’t want to know what they even do in the room. If they were to do _that_ then he hoped that they wouldn’t be too loud, _please God_.

(What actually happens in the room: “Xuxi, this is middle school mathematics. See, it says ‘Grade 8’ in front of the book. Are you sure this is the assignment that your professor gave you?”

“Of course, I’m sure.”

Yukhei totally did not bribe Kun’s cousin Renjun to give him his old maths book. And it was totally not an excuse for him to come and ask Jungwoo to help him solve the problems just to be with him every night.

Jungwoo didn’t mind, though.)

Kun had only two years left of school before graduating. He prayed that the two years would come fast.

He usually stayed in his room during the day, refusing to hang out with his ‘best friends’.

“Xuxi, do you think Kun-ge hates us?” Jungwoo had asked his boyf- no, not boyfriend, his good friend one day.

“I don’t know... why would you think that?”

“Because he never hangs out with us! We live together but we only see him when we eat or at the campus.”

Yukhei tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Hm... maybe he’s busy studying. Let’s not disturb him.”

Jungwoo perked up at this. If he were a puppy, his tail would be wagging enthusiastically. “You’re right, Xuxi,” he sighed in relief.

The real reason was that Kun had had enough of their shit. Not dating?! My ass. The ones out of their minds here were Yukhei and Jungwoo. What the hell do they think they were doing openly flirting like that in front of everybody’s salad? Seriously.

The first day that all three of them finally settled down in the apartment, Kun sat them down in the living room and held a meeting as the good Kun-ge that he is. They divided the chores and the like, and Kun explained the house rules.

(“He fucking thinks we’re kids and he’s like the wisest just because he’s the oldest,” Yukhei had said to Jungwoo purposefully loud so that Kun could hear.

Jungwoo played with his fingers awkwardly. “I don’t think that’s very nice...”

“It’s fine. We’ve known each other since diapers.”

“I didn’t know you still wore diapers when you were seven, Xuxi,” Kun retorted.

“Don’t listen to the old man,” Yukhei told Jungwoo.)

House rule #1: Always keep the dorm clean no matter what.  
House rule #2: Everyone comes home no later than 10pm.  
House rule #3: Help each other.  
House rule #4: If anyone were to stay out late or not return home for the night, inform Kun-ge.  
House rule #69: Everyone cooks dinner together everyday.  
House rule #666: No flirting in this good Korean household.  
And so on.

Kun found that Yukhei and Jungwoo had no problems following every other house rule except two.

One evening, they gathered in the kitchen to cook dinner. However, Yukhei and Jungwoo were probably wearing aprons just for fashion seeing that Kun was the only one cooking.

“Hyung, you’re sweating,” Yukhei said and grabbed a tissue. He started dabbing the tissue lightly on Jungwoo’s neck. He still kept going even if the older boy’s neck had no sign of sweat anymore, letting his hand linger on the sensitive skin.

“Thanks, Xuxi,” Kun heard Jungwoo say in a hushed voice.

He turned around to see what the hell was happening, why aren’t these two dumbasses helping him out, can they stop flirting already please, when he saw that both of their eyes were fixated on each other’s lips. Kun was about to shout at them, except he did but not because of those two.

The washcloth that he was holding caught on fire. Kun had forgotten to keep it away from the pan, damn it. His scream broke Yukhei and Jungwoo out of their world and finally, they were helping out in the kitchen for once.

Jungwoo threw a glass full of water towards the cloth and Yukhei threw half-chopped onions in Kun’s direction.

That helped nothing, actually.

When they finally had a decent dinner to eat, all three of them sat down at the island, Yukhei and Jungwoo next to each other and Kun across them.

“Xuxi, say ah,” Jungwoo said while holding a spoonful of rice.

“Ahh...”

“Can you guys like... tone down the gayness? And do that somewhere else?” Kun said, mouth around his glass. He was glaring at them. He was basically throwing daggers at them through his eyes and he wished his looks could kill so that his roommates would’ve been dead by now.

“Stop being so salty, ge. I’m just taking care of my baby,” Jungwoo pulled Yukhei close to him to emphasize the baby part.

“No, you’re not. You’re fucking flirting and you’re too dumb to realize that. Plus, you guys are not even a year apart. What baby?” Kun scoffed.

“Maybe we need to find him a boyfriend,” Yukhei said, looking up into Jungwoo’s eyes and giggled like a damn highschool girl.

“You’re right, Xuxi. Who could it be? Taeyong hyung? Doyoung hyung? Or does he like younger people? Hm... Mark?”

“Hey, what the fuck?! Stop trying to pair me up with anyone!”

That night, Kun shoved his food into his mouth in an attempt to finish eating quickly and get out of there. He also went into his room straight away.

“I need to study. I have a quiz coming up. Goodnight,” was what he said.

And Jungwoo still had the audacity to think why Kun hated them.

“He doesn’t,” Yukhei tried to convince him.

  
—

  
They always held hands on the way to the campus. At this point, the whole campus thought they were dating. To which they denied, of course (but no one believed them).

Yukhei had Jungwoo pushed up against his locker, his elbow leaning on it in a somewhat _kabedon_ manner. This was totally what all friends do.

“You smell good today, hyung,” Yukhei said.

“Do I?”

“Yes. Is it a new cologne?” he caressed Jungwoo’s cheek.

“How’d you know?”

A group of girls were whispering to each other while observing them, clearly envious.

“Look at them! Oh, the things I’d do to get someone who looks at me the way they look at each other,” one girl sighed dreamily.

“Right? They’re basically the power couple of the campus!”

“I heard that they aren’t actually dating, though?” another girl said.

“Bullshit! Look, look! Look at how Lucas caressed Jungwoo’s cheek!”

All of them squealed like dolphins.

Kun, who was nearby them, slammed his locker. He didn’t understand how these girls could find it cute. He has to deal with this shit everyday. He rolled his eyes. He was 666% done he just prayed that God took him now.

He also found it ridiculous how Yukhei had told everyone who has ever been around him for five seconds to call him ‘Lucas’ just because Jungwoo told him he looked like a ‘Lucas’ the first time they met. Jungwoo doesn’t even call him that now. ‘Lucas’ wasn’t even that cool.

(Kun brought Jungwoo to introduce him to his group of friends. They were at Taeyong’s place when the door burst open. All of them cheered when they saw Mark.

“Congrats on making it to college!” one of them shouted.

“You make me sound as if I wouldn’t finish highschool,” Mark said with an incredulous look on his face.

“Our baby boy is all grown up now,” someone said, an accent lacing their sentence that Jungwoo couldn’t really identify.

“Finally our youngest member can be invited to our parties,” another guy said while wiping away invisible tears.

“Hey, who’s that you brought with you?” Kun asked, squinting to get a better look at the familiar person.

“Xuxi?” Jungwoo stood up.

“You know him?” Mark asked Jungwoo, a new face he noticed. “He’s a cool guy from one of my classes.”

“Hyung? Why are you here? Kun-ge?” Yukhei looked just as surprised.

Everyone in the room cheered again and went to give Yukhei a group hug.

“Welcome to the gang, Sushi!” they said in unison, completely butchering his name except for one guy who seemed to be Chinese as well.

After they pulled away from the hug, Yukhei said, “Call me ‘Lucas’. It’s better.”

“Lucas!” they shouted again.)

Kun was about to make his way to class when he heard Yukhei calling him.

“Kun-ge! Hey!”

He hissed. He could feel the group of girls staring at him. Damn it, he didn’t want to be associated with Yukhei and Jungwoo. Looks like that wasn’t going to happen now.

“Lucas and Jungwoo are friends with the fourth year?” he heard one girl whisper.

‘No. Like hell I am.’

“Maybe we could ask him to keep us updated on LuWoo!”

‘Lu-what?! Is that what they are called now?’

That was it. He walked away as fast as he could.

‘My parents sent me here for me to get the best education. Not for me to suffer like this. God, why am I alive. I wasn’t born to update people on-’

Kun’s train of thought was cut off as a hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.

“Hey, why are you avoiding us?” it was Yukhei.

“You avoid us all the time, actually...” Jungwoo said in a slow voice, looking at his feet instead of Kun.

“Look, kids. I have to get to class now. Also, don’t talk to me while we’re at the campus.”

“What, why?” Yukhei was confused.

“Because...”

‘Because your flirting is fucking disgusting and I am so embarrassed being your friend,’ was what Kun was really tempted to say.

“Just because,” he decided to say instead.

“Huh. Anyways, I just wanted to ask if you were free after classes and wanted to hang. You know, to celebrate the end of midterms since we didn’t get to do it yesterday. We literally passed out the moment we reached the dorms so...”

“Where? Who else is coming?”

Jungwoo perked up, seeing that Kun was actually interested. “Taeyong hyung’s place, as usual. Just our gang. He said it was gonna be, uh... lit? And also said... _skarut_...?”

Jungwoo clearly didn’t keep himself updated on the slangs that people used these days. He also wondered why they were supposed to be referred to as ‘gang’ instead of ‘squad’.

(“It’s because we are _bosses_ , Jungwoo,” Taeyong had told him when he asked one day.)

“You’re doing amazing, hyung,” Yukhei reassured his _good friend_ , pulling him close and taking his hand in his.

Kun looked away. “I should be. I’ll come join after my shift at the library ends. See you.” Finally, he could get away from those two.

“That’s great, Kun-ge!” Yukhei shouted from behind him in mandarin.

“I don’t know you guys!” Kun shouted in korean without looking back.

  
—

  
It was almost 4 when Kun’s shift finished. He was kind of excited to meet up with his friends after three weeks of studying and answering papers and barely making it out of the exam hall alive. Tonight was the night he could finally enjoy himself (even if a ‘party’ at Taeyong’s place wasn’t anything special; it just consisted of drinking and hanging out and non-serious drunken arguments that no one would remember the next day). He also couldn’t wait to see–

“Kun-ge!”

Why do they have to be wherever he was? Kun hated his life.

“Why are you guys still here? Shouldn’t you be at Taeyong hyung’s?”

“What a grumpy old man. He’s never happy to see us. Sad, right, Jungwoo?” Yukhei said in english.

Jungwoo struggled to put two and two together to understand what Yukhei just said.

“Hey! Just because I couldn’t understand Renjun that one time doesn’t mean you could use it against me, dickhead,” Kun said in mandarin.

(Renjun had to stay with them for two days because his parents were outstation on a business trip. Kun was in charge of taking care of his baby cousin.

“I’m not a baby, ge.”

That day, Yukhei and Jungwoo were very obviously cuddling on the couch in front of the television and Kun had voiced out his discomfort to his cousin.

And that damn cousin of his said, in english, “Why don’t you grab a book or something and come with me?”

“...WHAT?!” Kun said in english very eloquently.

Ever since then, Yukhei had used the english language against Kun.)

“Uh...” was all Jungwoo said. He was lost. “Jaehyun hyung said the whole gang is there except for us. He told us to... _skarut_ ,” he said, reading the group chat.

  
—

  
“Xuxi. Xuxi, hey,” Kun tried to get the younger boy’s attention away from an ice cream stall.

“Kun-ge, _please_. I want ice cream.”

Jungwoo, who had his fingers laced around Yukhei’s, just shrugged at the oldest of the three.

“I just bought you ice cream yesterday! I told you, too much ice cream is no good.”

Yukhei finally turned away from the stall and to Kun, tears streaming down his face. “B-but... I didn’t get to eat it!”

Oh, right. Kun remembered.

 

_“Geez,” he sighed as he handed the ice cream to Yukhei and Jungwoo. “Happy now?”_

_“Ge, you didn’t have to get one for me...” Jungwoo said._

_“Nah, it’s fine. It’s a treat for being a good boy, alright?” Kun smiled at him._

_“Ge, you never call me a good boy!” Yukhei’s sudden outburst shocked the two of them._

_“Because you aren’t one, Xuxi.”_

_Yukhei’s jaw dropped. How rude of him! But his jaw wasn’t the only thing that dropped. He was about to say something back to Kun when Jungwoo interrupted him._

_“Uh... Xuxi? I don’t wanna make you sad but... your ice cream...” Jungwoo pointed to the floor._

_Yukhei looked down to where the older boy was pointing, only to see that he had an empty cone in his hand. There, on the floor, was his precious mint chocolate chip ice cream splattered, making a green mess. “NOO!!”_

_Kun ended up having to drag the boy out of the shop because of the commotion he was making. Even Jungwoo couldn’t calm him down._

_“I DON’T LIKE NUTS!” Yukhei cried, pushing away Jungwoo’s ice cream. He sobbed all the way home while being dragged by Kun and Jungwoo._

 

“Forget about it. I’ll get you ice cream tomorrow. Come on, the gang’s waiting for us,” Kun started walking, leaving the two of them behind _._

“Shh, it’s fine, Xuxi. I can get you ice cream right after the party, okay?” Jungwoo wiped the younger boy’s tears away with his sleeve. He tugged at Yukhei’s hand, telling him to keep walking.

What a big baby. _Jungwoo’s_ big baby.

Jungwoo turned red at the thought and slapped himself hard.

“HYUNG, ARE YOU OKAY?!”

  
—

  
When they finally arrived at Taeyong’s place, Ten greeted them at the door. He totally wasn’t sober.

“Heyyy...” he drawled. “You are Jungwoo!”

“Thank you.”

“What’s up, man!” Yukhei slapped Ten’s shoulder.

“The roof.”

“How high are you?” Kun made a face.

“170 something,” Ten hiccuped.

“I thought no one in the gang smoked?” Yukhei asked Kun.

“Oh, hey, guys! Finally you’re here. Come on in,” Taeyong pushed Ten away and pulled Jungwoo inside.

“Hey!” Yukhei tried to pull Jungwoo back to him.

“Oops, my bad. Didn’t mean to steal your boyfriend,” Taeyong let go of the younger boy.

“He’s not–”

They were in the living room now, and it was a total mess. Doyoung was shouting at Mark about how his birthday hasn’t come around yet and he wasn’t supposed to be drinking this much. Sicheng was in the corner of the room passed out. Taeyong’s shit taste in music wasn’t helping, either.

The place was incredibly messy, with empty bottles and tissues thrown here and there. Taeyong’s place was now in ‘ _party mode_ ’, which meant no lights turned on except for neon signs. And the shitty music from the speakers. It was also obvious that Taeyong didn’t try to put in much effort with how he hung the fairy lights messily on the walls.

Jaehyun suddenly appeared from the kitchen or somewhere and wrapped his arm around Taeyong’s waist.

“Ew.”

“Shut up, Xuxi. You’re equally as disgusting with Jungwoo in the dorms,” said Kun.

Jungwoo only blushed.

“Now go have some fun!” Taeyong handed each of them a glass of beer. “You’re free to go anywhere. Bedroom is off limits, though. And do _it_ in the bathroom.”

“It’s not like th–” Yukhei tried to object but Taeyong had pulled Jaehyun to God knows where and out of sight.

Kun went over to Sicheng, the only sane person in the gang. But no one was ever sane even when they were sober anyway so that didn’t matter. Ten was talking about how Doyoung should just let Mark drink for the evening.

Sicheng woke up when he felt a presence beside him. “Hello, Kun-ge. Did you know that Japanese men are beautiful? I love them.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“He’s been saying that ever since he had one sip of beer,” Ten tried to explain. “Apparently he likes this person called... what was it again? Yuri?”

“I’m pretty sure it was Yaoi,” Mark slurred.

“It’s Yuta!” Sicheng shouted before chucking an empty box of tissue in their general direction.

Now it was just the two of them.

Yukhei took a sip of his drink. “Hyung, your cheek is still red.”

Jungwoo’s hand shot up to his left cheek subconsciously. “Don’t worry about it.”

The younger boy took a step forward, causing Jungwoo to step backwards until his back hit the wall. Ah, there they were again. In the same place everyone would find them in; Yukhei pushing Jungwoo against a wall. Totally just friends.

Yukhei pulled Jungwoo’s hand from his cheek slowly. “What actually happened?”

This caused the older boy to blush because of the thought he had earlier. “M-mosquito.”

“You must really hate them, huh?”

“Yeah, they’re annoying.”

They just stood like that in comfortable silence, staring into each other’s eyes (lovingly) while Yukhei caressed Jungwoo’s cheek. He would stop caressing to drink occasionally. And before they knew it, Yukhei had drank several glasses while Jungwoo had none (he even handed his glass to Yukhei).

“You know... if it still hurts, I can kiss it better for you,” Yukhei was visibly drunk at this point, if his breath reeking of alcohol had anything to say.

“Oh, really? Why don’t you do it, then?” Jungwoo challenged him. He was even surprised with himself. He didn’t know where that much courage came from.

Both of them didn’t notice that the whole room was quiet; Taeyong’s shit music wasn’t blasting from the speakers anymore, Ten, Doyoung and Mark had stopped fighting, Sicheng had stopped going on about his Japanese guy and Taeyong and Jaehyun were back in the living room. All eyes were on them except for Kun who had his face buried in his hands.

Jungwoo could hear his own heartbeat as Yukhei neared his face. He cursed himself. What if Xuxi could hear it? No, no, no, not good. He stopped breathing and shut his eyes tightly, waiting for the younger boy’s lips to make contact with his cheek. Will history be made today? This would be their first kiss, technically (minus all the times that Yukhei had kissed his knuckles. Did that count?).

Jungwoo released his breath when he couldn’t hold it in any longer. Instead, he could feel liquid on his shoulder. He opened his eyes slowly only to be greeted by the sight of Yukhei crying.

“Hey, Xuxi. What’s wrong? Look at me,” he tried shaking Yukhei’s shoulder. The latter only buried his face into Jungwoo’s neck, wetting his shirt.

“I can’t kiss you,” Yukhei wailed.

Jungwoo just rubbed soothing circles into his back. “Why not?”

“Because I have someone I like! I don’t want him to be jealous!”

The circles stopped. Everyone’s hearts in the room dropped, especially Jungwoo’s. Kun felt like his head could explode any moment.

“He–” Yukhei hiccuped, “he’s so beautiful, I hope he knows that. His eyes are a beautiful color and everytime I look into them, I could see stars. I– I could see the whole universe.”

“Xuxi...”

“His hands are soft and he gives the warmest hugs! I love him! I love him so–” another hiccup.

‘So he likes Kun-ge, huh?’ Jungwoo tried to smile despite the pain he felt in his heart. Wait... his heart? Why? He didn’t understand. This feeling was... not nice to say the least. It felt like his heart was being twisted and squished and– broken.

“He has beautiful milky skin. He– he’s just beautiful. His lips are cute, too. I badly wanna kiss him,” Yukhei sobbed.

“Why... why don’t you tell him that you love him?” Jungwoo managed to croak out. He didn’t realize that his throat was dry.

Yukhei pulled away from him and messily wiped away his tears. His face was flushed. Nevertheless, Yukhei still smiled brightly. “You’re right!” he scanned everyone in the room.

Taeyong pulled Jaehyun close to him protectively, Mark didn’t give two shits and poured himself another glass, Ten, Doyoung and Sicheng were still quiet.

Jungwoo could feel his heart stop when Yukhei locked eyes with Kun a little longer than necessary. Suddenly, Yukhei burst into tears again.

“I can’t find him!”

“Xuxi, how drunk are you?” Kun asked in mandarin.

“Maybe... you could tell me his name? I can keep it a secret,” offered Jungwoo.

“I forgot.”

“Maybe you could describe him, then.”

“He’s beautiful.”

Jungwoo felt his heart clench. Was this jealousy? He shook off the thought.

“Okay... and?” he prompted Yukhei to go on.

“The first time I met him, I fell in love. I introduced myself but he called me ‘Lucas’ instead. Suddenly, I wanted to change my name. I told everyone to call me that. He’s also very kind. He helps me with maths every night even if I lied. I got that book from Renjun. It was just an excuse for me to spend time with him. Yet, he still helped me. We never do the chores at home. I always try to distract him and get his attention. Kun-ge is always pissed at us. He always tells me to be kind to Kun-ge. Fuck Kun-ge. We walk–” he hiccuped, “we walk to school together. And... and...”

‘IS HE CONFESSING?!’ Kun’s mind was running a million miles per second.

Meanwhile, Jungwoo.exe has stopped working.

“He promised to get me ice cream tonight,” Yukhei said before sniffling.

He decided to go for it. It was now or never. “Is he... Jungwoo?”

Yukhei snapped his fingers. “That’s the name I was looking for!”

Everyone facepalmed.

“Lucas, you idiot!” Mark got up from the couch only to pass out and fall onto Doyoung’s lap.

“I need to find him! I need to tell him my feelings or I might die,” Yukhei was shaking Jungwoo’s body violently.

“Xuxi, hey,” he tried snapping the boy out of it. “ _Lucas_ ,” he said, sternly this time.

Yukhei stopped.

“Lucas. I love you, too, Lucas.”

“Jungwoo?”

“It’s me. I’m here, Lucas,” he reassured the younger boy.

Yukhei teared up again. “JUNGWOO!” he hugged the older boy tightly.

Jungwoo thought his bones were going to be crushed. “Shh... hey, stop it. Lucas, everyone’s watching.” It was hard to talk with Yukhei literally crushing his body.

“Oh, so now you care?” Kun said bitterly.

Jungwoo made the ‘ _I’m sorry_ ’ gesture to Kun behind Yukhei’s back where he was hugging him.

“Lucas probably won’t remember this, though. He’s drunk off his face,” Taeyong stated to no one in particular.

“Worry not, hyung,” Ten said.

Taeyong turned around and saw Ten with his phone, probably recording. He had a mischievous glint in his eyes and Taeyong smirked back at him.

“Lucas, you’re drunk. Get up,” Jungwoo used whatever strength that was left in him to pull Yukhei who was slowly sliding to the floor back up on his feet.

“FIGHTING HAEYADWAE!” was all Yukhei shouted before passing out.

  
—

  
“How much did he had to drink?”

_Kun-ge?_

“Almost ten glasses... or more.”

_Jungwoo hyung_...

Yukhei felt like he was underwater. The voices sounded distant. He couldn’t quite make out anything anyone was saying. He also felt an oncoming headache.

“Ge, the group chat...”

“What about it?”

“I don’t think he remembers anything. This is embarrassing. What if he didn’t mean anything he said just now?”

“Bullshit. Everyone knows how he feels towards you. Only both of you are too stupid to realize.”

“That’s–”

“Come on, Jungwoo. Let’s leave him be first.”

He heard feet shuffling and the door closing. And then, he heard nothing.

  
—

  
Yukhei woke up the next morning with a strong urge to throw up. He momentarily realized that he wasn’t in Jungwoo’s room before kicking away his blanket and running to the bathroom.

“Xuxi? Oh, God,” Jungwoo came inside too and starting rubbing his back.

He tried his best to remove all the contents of his stomach but only bile came out.

“Hyung... ah, fuck,” Yukhei couldn’t help but curse. He was also crying, involuntary (or angry, he would like to believe) tears streaming down his face.

“Shh, I know. Kun-ge will make hangover soup for you, alright?”

He was annoyed that nothing would come out but his stomach was churning and the headache was killing him.

“Lucas,” Jungwoo tested. His heart was full of hope that Yukhei would remember anything from last night.

But who knew that was all it took for Yukhei to throw up? He didn’t know what triggered what in his body but he knew it was the effect of ‘Lucas’ for some reason. He didn’t want to use his brain to think anymore so he let the thought go.

“Oh, that was a great one,” Yukhei wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and threw himself on the bathroom floor, leaning on the side of the bathtub. Jungwoo flushed the toilet before kneeling in front of Yukhei to get on his eye level and wiped away his tears.

“Better?”

“A little. Thanks, hyung,” he smiled.

Jungwoo washed the younger boy’s hand and mouth for him. “Say, Xuxi... do you...” he trailed off.

“Do I what?”

“It’s nothing.”

“No, tell me, hyu–” he was cut off by the sudden pain in his head. He held his head, hoping that would somehow stop the pain.

“Don’t talk too much,” Jungwoo hugged him. “Seeing you in pain makes me pained, too.”

Kun had been in front of the bathroom the whole time. When he heard this, he grimaced.

“But... do I what?”

“Do you remember anything from last night?”

He used his remaining brain cells to remember last night’s events. He remembered Ten being drunk, Taeyong and Jaehyun probably making out, Doyoung and Mark arguing, Sicheng passed out and... suddenly his head throbbed.

“Xuxi, hey...” Jungwoo hugged him tighter when he heard the younger boy whimper.

“Xuxi, your soup is ready. Come eat before it gets cold,” Kun decided to step in at that moment. He tossed a bottle of water to Jungwoo who caught it neatly.

“Drink this, Xuxi,” he handed the bottle to Yukhei. After the latter finished drinking, he helped Yukhei up to the kitchen.

  
—

  
Yukhei inhaled the soup right when he saw it.

“Slow down a bit, Xuxi. You might choke,” Jungwoo frowned.

“Thanks, Kun-ge. This is very delicious,” he said. Except it was in thai and no one understood him.

“What?”

“I think he said something about the soup,” Jungwoo said, trying to be helpful.

He made Yukhei rest on the couch after he finished eating.

“Lay with me here, hyung!” the younger boy scooted over and patted the empty space beside him.

Jungwoo sighed. “You’re supposed to get some rest, Xuxi.”

“My energy will be recharged faster with you.”

“I wasn’t talking about your energy, silly,” Jungwoo said but he got on the couch anyway.

Kun decided to distract himself with cleaning the kitchen and doing the house chores. There they were again, disgustingly cuddling.

“You look handsome today,” Yukhei ran his hand through Jungwoo’s locks.

“You say that everyday.”

“Cus it’s true.”

He rolled his eyes and laughed at the response. “Your hair is soft,” it was Jungwoo’s turn to compliment the younger boy. He let his hand rest on Yukhei’s cheek after letting his fingers rake through the latter’s hair.

“Well... I used your shampoo,” Yukhei confessed sheepishly.

“Huh, I should have known. No wonder your hair smells familiar,” he said and rubbed their noses together before laughing again. “By the way, you left your phone here last night,” Jungwoo said and handed the phone to his _good friend_.

“Thanks! I thought I left it back at Taeyong hyung’s place, geez. Wow, a thousand messages from the group chat? I wonder what–” Yukhei could barely open the chat when Jungwoo snatched his phone out of his hand. “What was that for?”

“Don’t!” Jungwoo sat up.

Yukhei followed suit, ignoring the throb in his head when he sat up suddenly. “Don’t what?”

“Do you really not remember anything from last night?”

“Was there anything significant that I should remember? I remember Ten hyung being drunk... and Taeyong hyung and Jaehyun hyung being disgusting,” he scratched his nape. “Doyoung hyung and Mark arguing over drinks I guess and... Sicheng-ge passed out. Right?”

Jungwoo’s face fell. Kun appeared from Yukhei’s room which he was tidying up and threw an empty can at Yukhei’s head.

“Are you fucking dumb?! Get your shit together, Wong Yukhei. Don’t hurt the boy like this! I did not suffer all these while only for you to forget what you did last night. When will you two fucking realize your feelings for each other?!” Kun shouted angrily in mandarin.

“Ow... what the hell?” Yukhei rubbed his head.

“Forget it, I guess. It’s fine,” Jungwoo said slowly.

“Wait, no. Tell me, hyung.”

“Um...” he started, looking everywhere but Yukhei. He saw Kun urging him to go on. “You... confessed last night. To me. Under the influence of alcohol. I didn’t know if you meant it, though. But if you did... I like you, too.”

Yukhei’s eyes were the size of saucers and his mouth was agape. He also turned beet red, just like Taeyong’s hair. “I WHAT?!” he shouted in mandarin.

“This is awkward...”

“Show him the video, Jungwoo.”

Jungwoo could feel the heat radiating from the boy beside him. Just how embarrassed was he? He returned the phone to Yukhei to show him the video that Ten had sent to the group chat. He had to scroll through 900 messages to finally get to it, though.

Yukhei couldn’t really pay attention to the video.

  
_“I can’t kiss you!”_

_“Why not?”_

_“Because I have someone I like! I don’t want him to be jealous.”_

  
His mind went in and out of focus. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

  
_“I can’t find him!”_

_“Xuxi, how drunk are you?”_

_“Maybe... you can tell me his name? I can keep it a secret.”_

_“I forgot.”_

  
“This... this isn’t me,” Yukhei tried to save what was left of his pride. He tried to convince himself that his eyes were deceiving him.

“It’s clearly you, idiot,” Kun was having none of it.

  
_“The first time I met him, I fell in love. I introduced myself but he called me ‘Lucas’ instead.”_

_“Lucas, you idiot!”_

_“I need to find him! I need to tell him my feelings or I might die.”_

_“Lucas.”_

_“Jungwoo?”_

_"I love you, too, Lucas.”_

_“JUNGWOO!”_

_“Lucas, you’re drunk. Get up.”_

_“FIGHTING HAEYADWAE!”_

  
And just like that, the video ended. Yukhei slowly turned his head to look at Jungwoo, eyes full of dread. He just hoped the ground would open up and swallow him whole.

“Did I... really just do that?”

“Well,” Jungwoo closed his mouth again when he realized he didn’t really know what to say.

Yukhei buried his face in his hands.

“That’s embarrassing! I can’t believe myself!” his voice came out muffled. “I’m so sorry, hyung!”

“It’s fine,” Jungwoo patted his back.

“You’re already embarrassing even without doing anything. The gang’s used to it,” Kun said. Very helpful.

He ignored Kun’s remark. “But... you’re still my friend right, hyung? My favourite roommate.”

“Hey,” Kun was pissed that Yukhei actually said that in front of him but decided to let it slide this time.

“We’re still friends, right?” Yukhei wanted to make sure. He was very scared that he might’ve ruined his friendship with the older boy. He didn’t want to lose Jungwoo.

Only that his sober self was too stupid to realize that the feelings he had for Jungwoo wasn’t platonic. He really thinks the way his heart skipped a beat whenever he saw the boy meant that you truly cherished your friend. Being clingy and flirty around Jungwoo also probably meant showing Friendly Affection™ towards a friend for Yukhei. Holding hands meant ‘We are the Superior BFFs’. Crashing in Jungwoo’s room every night meant ‘I really like our friendship so I’m gonna spend every second with you’.

Kun wasn’t wrong when he said Yukhei is dumb.

Jungwoo fiddled with his fingers, a habit he always did when he felt nervous. “What if... I want to be more than friends?” he said softly.

Yukhei removed his hands from his face to look at Jungwoo. “More...?”

“I finally realized that all these while I had feelings for you. From the moment I saw you when you moved in that day actually. I’ve never seen someone so beautiful. When you flirted with me, I thought maybe you felt the same way. But I didn’t wanna keep my hopes up so I thought you were just a flirty guy,” Jungwoo knew he was just rambling at this point. He wanted to slap himself due to the embarrassment.

Jungwoo didn’t trust himself anymore but he still continued, “But as days went by, it got too much and I couldn’t lie to myself anymore. I also really like your deep voice. I like you a lot, Xuxi. I... want to be your boyfriend,” he tried his best to maintain eye contact so that Yukhei could know his feelings.

Was this real life? Or was he just dreaming? Yukhei wanted to pinch himself to make sure but he decided not to. Perhaps his ears were malfunctioning.

But this felt great. Yukhei liked this ecstatic feeling so he decided to live in this dream. A short while wouldn’t hurt, he decided.

Except that he hoped he never woke up later. “Jungwoo hyung, that’s... GREAT! I LOVE YOU, TOO, HYUNG!” he pulled the older boy into a tight hug.

Relief washed over Jungwoo’s whole body as he hugged Yukhei back, something that he noticed he did on a daily basis now. “I know. You said that last night.”

“But I didn’t remember anything! This time I’m confessing on my own will.”

“Okay, fair enough,” Jungwoo laughed.

“FINALLY,” Kun fell to the floor, the broom he was holding supporting him no more. He clenched his chest. “I’ve been suffering because of you both, dumbasses,” he proceeded to fake cry, wiping away invisible tears.

“Shut up, Fat Kun.”

  
—

  
_**LUCAS** **:**_ ya boi’s got himself a boyfriend!

_**long ass ride:**_ we all know that already

**_bunny:_** havent u been dating jungwoo for like. months now.

_**10:**_ especially after all the ruckus u made last night

_**zeus:**_ i would like to apologize on behalf of xuxi

_**Kun:**_ dont

_**TY:**_ ??? SO ALL THIS WHILE U WERENT A THING???? WTF MY WHOLE LIFE HAS BEEN A LIE

_**Jeff:**_ be quiet dont cry

_**Sicheng:**_ whoop whoop

_**LUCAS:**_ thank you sicheng-ge

  
—

  
Kun thought that after Yukhei and Jungwoo had finally got their shit together and realize their feelings, he wouldn’t suffer anymore. Boy, was he wrong.

“Good morning, Kun-ge!”

Kun was getting water from the sink when Yukhei went into the kitchen.

“You seem like you’re in a very good mood,” said Kun before drinking his water. He choked when he turned around and saw Yukhei half-naked with purple marks all over his body.

“Whoa, you alright, ge?” Yukhei ran over to the older boy who was coughing the life out of himself and patted Kun’s back.

“Xuxi? What happened?” Jungwoo came into the kitchen, fully dressed thankfully. Except that he didn’t make any effort to cover the hickeys on his neck.

“Kun-ge choked on his water. I really thought he was gonna die,” Yukhei said innocently.

It seemed like they were going to act as if nothing was out of the norm.

Kun wanted to just choke on his water and die.

  
—

  
“Are you sure this can cover them up?” Jungwoo asked.

They were walking hand in hand to the campus and received envious looks from all the students. When they reached the locker area, Jungwoo had his back to his locker as Yukhei rested his hand beside his head, trapping him in between the locker. He looked up into the younger boy’s brown eyes.

“It should. I got the concealer from Yeri.”

“Who?”

“Uh... some girl from one of my classes. Mark helped. He said he made a deal; he’ll set her up with some fourth year girl if she gave me the concealer for free without questions.”

“Um, okay then...” he decided to not push it. “See, I told you to not leave obvious bruises that night. You wouldn’t have to go through all these trouble.”

“It’s fine. I can’t help it, though. I just wanted to make sure the whole world knows that you’re mine,” Yukhei cheekily wiggled his eyebrows.

“Oh, stop it, you,” Jungwoo hit Yukhei’s chest playfully.

“Hey, Lucas!” speaking of the devil. “And Jungwoo hyung.”

“What’s up, Mark!” Yukhei high-fived him.

“Hi, Mark.”

He looked back at his boyfriend. “Gotta get to class. I’ll see you during break. Love you,” he planted a kiss on Jungwoo’s forehead.

“Love you, Xuxi,” the older boy replied. He waved back at Mark. Jungwoo smiled as he watched his boyfriend walk away.

‘It’s so hot today... I’m sweating a lot,’ he thought to himself as he opened his locker to grab some books and groaned inwardly as he wiped his neck with a handkerchief, forgetting all about the concealer. He was also oblivious to all the stares he was getting from the students around him. Jungwoo was suddenly reminded of all the times Yukhei would wipe his sweat for him in the kitchen while Kun cooked dinner. He bit his lip to stop himself from smiling.

Meanwhile, Kun was thinking of the quickest and painless way to die. Was it possible to ask to change lockers? Why did Kun’s locker have to be close to the group of ‘LuWoo fangirls’? What has he done wrong in life – or his past life – to deserve this?

“OMG! Look at Jungwoo’s neck!” one girl said to her group.

“Lucas really is wild.”

“WE STAN A POSSESSIVE BOYFRIEND!” one girl shouted.

“Shouldn’t we help him, though?” one of them was thoughtful enough to give that suggestion.

“Maybe he wants to walk around campus like that proudly like ‘look, everyone! I belong to Lucas!’ Don’t you think?”

The group of girls started laughing obnoxiously.

Kun fished for his phone from his back pocket as he closed his locker. “Siri, how do you delete a conversation from your brain?”

  
—

  
That day, Renjun asked to hang with the three of them because “can’t your baby cousin want to hangout with you?”.

“You’re 18, Renjun,” Kun had told him.

All three of them picked up Kun’s cousin from his school.

(“Are these cool guys your brothers?” one of Renjun’s friends had said before waving goodbye.)

“Well, you were the one who called me your ‘baby cousin’,” Renjun argued. “Plus, most of my friends are busy. They have to take makeup tests or something tomorrow so they can’t hang. I’m really bored.”

Yukhei and Jungwoo didn’t have a problem anyway. Yukhei suggested they went to the arcade.

“Great idea! Lucas-ge is a very fun guy unlike Kun-ge.”

“Are you trying to disown me and adopt Xuxi as your cousin?”

“Bitch, I might.”

Yukhei high-fived the boy. “Gege will treat you to ice cream, alright?”

Jungwoo who didn’t understand anything that was going on (and also had touched up the makeup on his neck) decided to say something because it seemed like everyone had forgotten that he was there. “ _Skarut_.”

  
—

  
At this point, Kun was sure Yukhei was winning all the games just so he could give all the big ass plushies to Jungwoo.

“Wow...” Jungwoo said from behind all the plushies he got from Yukhei, but not because he was amazed. His legs were trembling.

“Me is good at this!”

“Yes...” it looked like the tower of plushies was going to collapse any moment, including the person who was carrying them. “This is enough plushies, Xuxi. Let’s try another game. One that doesn’t involve shooting down stuff and winning plushies. And cranes. Maybe MarioKart.”

All the people present at the arcade were giving weird stares to Jungwoo. If no one knew any better, they would think he was a literal walking tower of stuffed toys. There were also girls pointing at him saying they wished to have a boyfriend like ‘the handsome dirty blonde haired guy’.

This went unnoticed to Yukhei and Jungwoo, though.

Kun didn’t find it in him to play anymore. He was exhausted so he decided to see what his roommates were up to. Maybe he was just getting old.

“Kun-ge, can I please have more money?” Renjun came from behind him.

“That’s enough, you brat. You’re going to make me go broke. The library doesn’t even pay me enough. I don’t get paid enough to witness all the disgusting sappy shit happening in the dorms.”

“Okay... not even just for three tokens?”

Kun took several notes from his wallet and slapped them into Renjun’s waiting hand. “Take this and go, jackass.”

  
—

  
The sun was setting in the horizon when they walked home from the arcade. Yukhei and Jungwoo were walking hand in hand in front while Kun had his arm around Renjun’s shoulder behind them. Jungwoo carried a huge bag filled with all the plushies Yukhei won for him. He started making mental notes on where to put which stuffed toy in his room.

“Oh, right,” Yukhei stopped walking, causing everyone to stop as well. “I promised to treat cute Renjun to ice cream!”

Renjun’s face lit up. Kun rolled his eyes at his cousin. “What a spoiled brat.”

“It’s also probably because you spoil him too much as well, Kun-ge,” Jungwoo stated.

  
—

  
After getting four ice creams, they settled down at a table in the corner of the shop. It felt like home as the place was cozy. The shop was decorated with cute pictures of ice creams and classical music was being played. A perfect place to get some rest after a long and tiring day.

“Thanks, Lucas-ge!”

“No problem,” Yukhei ruffled the younger boy’s hair.

“Wow, finally you’re treating me to ice cream,” Kun said. “Thanks, Xuxi.”

“Well, I can’t keep letting you treat me. It’s my turn!” he said happily.

“I love you, Xuxi. You’re still sweeter than this ice cream, though,” Jungwoo giggled.

Kun looked at Renjun as if his cousin were the camera in The Office.

“Why don’t you grab a book or something and come with me?” Renjun said in english.

  
—

  
“Bye, cute Renjun!” Yukhei shouted and waved enthusiastically as the younger boy went into the train station.

“Bye! Today was really fun, thanks everyone! I love you, Lucas-ge!”

“Hey, what about me?!” Kun felt utterly betrayed.

Renjun ignored his cousin. “Bye, Jungwoo hyung. Take care of Lucas-ge so he can treat me to more ice cream!”

And with that, Renjun disappeared among everyone in the station. After making sure that Renjun got into the right train via text, the three of them started their journey back to the dorms as it was getting dark.

“I can’t believe my own baby cousin dropped me for some loud ass guy,” Kun huffed. He was lucky it was dark; he didn’t have to see Yukhei and Jungwoo sticking to each other like post-it notes.

“Can’t help it that I’m more fun than you are. Maybe you have to learn from me.”

“No, thanks. Why would I learn how to be a dumbass?”

“Hey! That was rude!”

Kun laughed loudly. Then, Jungwoo was laughing, too. At first, Yukhei pretended to be offended but then he couldn’t hold in his laughter anymore.

In the midst of laughing with the two, Kun realized that maybe he did love Yukhei and Jungwoo even if they got on his nerves and made him want to puke 24/7. But they didn’t need to know that.

He didn’t have to tell them for them to know anyway.

 

 

  
Yukhei played with Jungwoo’s soft hair as they laid in the latter’s bed, getting ready to sleep. He briefly thought about how he didn’t need the blanket to feel warm when he had Jungwoo by his side.

“Say, hyung... why did you say I look like a ‘Lucas’ the first time we met?”

“Because...” Jungwoo smiled playfully as he looked into Yukhei’s eyes. “‘Lucas’ means ‘beautiful’ or ‘perfect’ in a language I just made up.”

“Nice. I didn’t make everyone call me ‘Lucas’ for nothing then,” he said and kissed his boyfriend. After pulling away, he asked, “But why don’t you call me that anymore?”

“Because I like your real name better, Xuxi.”

“Yukhei is my name, too.”

“Yeah, well ‘Xuxi’ sounds like ‘sushi’ and I love sushi so I love you.”

Yukhei pulled the older boy closer to his body to feel his warmth. “I love you, too, Jungwoo.”


End file.
